


You Can Get Help (Even if You Don't Want It)

by Lazy8



Series: Bad Things Happen Bingo [24]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Damaged Vocal Cords, Fluff, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Point in Timeline Ambiguous, Sickfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-16
Updated: 2021-01-16
Packaged: 2021-03-13 20:41:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 590
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28784334
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lazy8/pseuds/Lazy8
Summary: Toph is sick.Katara isn't any happier about this than she is.
Relationships: Toph Beifong & Katara
Series: Bad Things Happen Bingo [24]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1846456
Comments: 4
Kudos: 20
Collections: Bad Things Happen Bingo





	You Can Get Help (Even if You Don't Want It)

**Author's Note:**

> **Prompt:** Damaged Vocal Cords  
>  **Hurt Character:** Other/Your Choice  
>  **Comforting Character(s):** Katara

Toph couldn't _believe_ this.

It was just a little _cold_. One little cold vs. Toph Beifong, the greatest earthbender of all time. It shouldn't even have been a _contest_.

Instead, here she was, in bed, being watched over by Sugar Queen, feeling somehow too hot and too cold at the same time and her throat so raw she didn't think things could have been much worse if she'd swallowed sandpaper.

"Here." Katara pressed a cup full of hot liquid into her hands. "Drink this. It'll make you feel better."

Toph took one sniff before pushing the cup violently away from herself—but the sensation of heated liquid seeping into the sheets never came, so she had to assume (because she couldn't _see_ , because she currently had no contact with the ground thanks to this stupid _bed_ ) that Katara had saved it with her waterbending. "Toph!" she scolded, right as Toph demanded, "Are you trying to _kill_ me?"

She'd _intended_ to shout it. Instead, her voice came out in a raspy whisper.

"See, that's exactly what I meant. It may taste nasty, but I made this to _help_ you." Katara sounded insufferably smug. "Unless, of course, you just don't _want_ your throat to feel better, and would rather be stuck whispering your way through your next Earth Rumble—"

"Oh, just give me the stupid tea." If Toph's attempt at shouting was barely above a whisper, her normal speaking voice was barely audible _at all_. Right now, she just wanted to _fix_ this, no matter how bad the remedy smelled.

Once more, Katara pressed the cup into her outstretched hand. Toph gave it one more sniff, just in case it would smell slightly more bearable the second time around. It didn't. Well, let no one say she didn't know how to stand her ground. Making a face, she held her nose, raised the cup to her lips, and downed the whole thing in one continuous swallow.

Somehow, the taste was even nastier than the smell. What was worse, if Toph had spent the last few days feeling like the inside of her throat had been sandpapered, drinking anything right now actually felt like _swallowing_ the sandpaper. After she had finished, she coughed weakly a few times out of reflex, but it did nothing whatsoever to ease the pain.

"There now, was that so hard?"

Toph made a face. Then, she turned her head in Katara's general direction with what she _hoped_ was a good glare.

A sigh. Then, Katara's weight pressed down beside her, making a dent in the mattress.

"Is it okay if I take another look at you?"

"Hmph." As much as Toph _wanted_ to just keep sitting there with her arms crossed, though, she only managed to stand her ground for a few seconds before the discomfort won out, and she gave a nod. A hand coated with cool water came to rest against her neck.

"This cold did a number on your throat, but the best medicine really is just to rest." Toph only grunted in response, wanting neither to concede the point _nor_ to have to listen to the pathetic whisper that her voice had now become.

"I'll bring you some more of that medicine in the morning," Katara finished as the water pulled away from her skin. "For now, though, just do your best to sleep, okay?"

Toph grumbled under her breath, but lay back down. The last thing she felt before she drifted off was the weight of a heavy blanket settling over her body.

**Author's Note:**

> This one came out a lot fluffier and sweeter than has been the average for this series.
> 
> Consider it a reprieve.


End file.
